


In Case of Emergency

by scarletmanuka



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst, BUT NOT THIS TIME, Established Relationship, Evan "Buck" Buckley Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, everyone leaves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29393130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/pseuds/scarletmanuka
Summary: Christopher wants to start catching the bus to school which gives Eddie a minor freakout but Buck convinces him to get Chris a phone so he can call if anything goes wrong. Then Buck sees the phone numbers programmed into the phone and realises that his is not there, and he immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 704





	In Case of Emergency

“Sleep tight, Superman,” Buck whispered, dropping a kiss to Christopher’s curls before he turned off the lamp. On silent feet so as not to wake him, Buck snuck out of Christopher’s room and then headed back down the hall towards the kitchen where he had left Eddie. His boyfriend was sitting at the table, a letter in his hands, looking off into space. Buck walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around Eddie, resting his head on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, babe?” 

Eddie sighed and waved the letter about. “I got this note from Christopher’s school today. They’re implementing a bus service for the kids.”

“Really? That’s great!”

“Yeah, it is,” Eddie said, making it sound anything _but_ great. “The bus is accessible for all the kids, will have an aide in attendance at all times, and will be picking each kid up from their house instead of a centralised bus stop in each area.”

Buck frowned and moved to the side so he could sit down, his hand lingering a little as it slipped from Eddie’s shoulder. “Okay, I’m...not really seeing the issue here. This sounds like a great service that’ll make your life a hell of a lot easier if you don’t have to worry about how you’re gonna get Christopher to school and back each day.”

Eddie folded his arms on the table and dropped his head on top of them. “He really wants to go on the bus,” he whispered, so quietly that Buck almost didn't hear it.

He got it then. Christopher was growing up, becoming more independent, and Eddie was having trouble letting go. Not that Buck could blame him - he loved the kid like he was his own and ever since he and Eddie had gotten together he’d enjoyed the fact that he didn’t have to pretend that he wasn’t actually co-parenting Christopher. But Christopher was only ten, it wasn’t like he was packing his bags and moving out just yet. It was just catching the bus to school. “He’s growing up, Eds, but he’s gonna be fine. This will be good for him.”

“He’s _ten!”_ Eddie cried. “And this isn’t exactly a sleepy little town in Texas, it’s Los Angeles, Buck!”

He looked at Eddie completely deadpan and said, “I am aware.”

Eddie sat back up and made another helpless gesture. “What if something goes wrong? What if he gets bullied, or gets hurt, or he gets dropped off at the wrong house? What if -”

Buck placed a finger to Eddie’s lips, cutting him off. “Eddie, stop. You said yourself, there will be an aide on the bus at all times, he’s not backpacking around Europe unsupervised. And Christopher is super popular, he’s not going to get bullied, all the kids love him. Lastly, do you really think that they’re gonna fuck up that badly and mix up the kids' addresses and then _not_ listen to them when the kids say ‘Hey, this isn’t my house!’?”

Eddie looked sheepish. “I know it sounds stupid when you put it like that, but this is a big step, Buck. I’m just worried that something could happen and I won’t be there. I won’t know until I get home and he tells me about it.”

He shrugged and said, “Then get him a phone. Half the class already has one and it’ll give him a way to contact you if, in the _entirely unlikely scenario_ that something does goes wrong.”

Eddie frowned. “A cell phone? Buck, he’s too young for a phone.”

“Is he though?”

_“He’s ten.”_

Buck tried not to laugh in Eddie’s face or make a quip about how his dinosaur of a boyfriend _still_ had a landline. Instead, he said as reasonably as possible, “Age isn’t relevant, the circumstances are. You can lock out any features you don’t want him using with the parental controls, and get it all set up so he can’t watch porn on his lunch break.”

 _“Buck!_ God, you did _not_ just say that!” Eddie looked horrified.

“Hey, I wasn’t much older than Chris is now when I started looking around the ‘net for naked people. Of course, each picture took _ages_ to load, he has much better internet speeds to watch quality porn now.”

“Stop! Please, for the love of God, _stop!”_

Buck laughed. “Come on, you can’t tell me that you weren’t doing the same thing at that age.”

“First of all, I’m a bit older than you so when I was his age we weren’t one of the lucky ones who had a computer at home yet, and I wasn't going to look that stuff up on the school computers. Second of all, I’m pretty sure we weren’t talking about this anymore!”

He leaned forward and kissed the tip of Eddie’s nose. “You’re so easy to rile up, babe. I bet you were adorable, sneaking into your parent’s room to hunt down your Dad’s _Playboy_ mags.”

Eddie groaned. “Do _you_ come with parental controls? Because I need this topic to be off limits with you.”

Buck laughed again and then relented. “Fine, no more talk about Christopher and his impending sexual awakening. _But_ I stand by the fact that I think getting him a phone will be a good compromise. It’ll allow him to catch the bus and be an independent little dude and it’ll give you peace of mind because you’ll be able to contact him whenever you need.”

Eddie chewed on his lower lip while he considered this before finally nodded. “Yeah, okay. I guess you’re right.”

Buck gave him a dopey grin. “It has to happen on occasion, right?”

Eddie shook his head and leaned in to kiss him softly. “You’re underestimating yourself again. You’re right more often than you think you are.”

“I’ll try and keep that in mind,” Buck said.

“Are you staying tonight?”

Buck nodded and then stood up, pulling Eddie to his feet as well. “Of course I am, nowhere else I’d rather be. So why don’t we take advantage of the little guy being asleep and head to bed ourselves?”

Eddie grinned and leaned in to nip at Buck’s ear before whispering hotly, “I’ll get the gag - you can never stay quiet.” Then he turned and dragged Buck by their joined hands down the hall to the bedroom.

oOoOo

Their next day off coincided with a non-work day for Maddie and Buck had arranged to meet her for brunch so they could catch up. Eddie had muttered something about having to go to the mall so Buck had said that he’d call by in the afternoon so they could spend some time together. When he did get to Eddie’s, a bag of groceries in hand since he wanted to try a new recipe tonight for dinner, he found his boyfriend at the kitchen table, with a new phone in his hand. “Hey, you got one for him,” Buck said as he leaned down to give Eddie a quick kiss.

“Yeah,” Eddie said, a little distracted as his hands flew over the screen. “It took a while to find one suitable - they all seem to be getting smaller and smaller but he needs something a little bigger. I’m just getting it set up now so I can surprise him after school.”

“He’s gonna be over the moon,” Buck agreed as he started to put the groceries away.

“Do you think it’s a little too creepy for me to activate his phone's locator app?”

Buck shook his head. “He’s a kid, he’s gonna lose it at some point. Just remember though, those apps aren’t the most specific. If he loses it in the mess of his bedroom, it’ll tell you it’s at this address but not that it’s under his bed next to his T-Rex figurine.”

Eddie blushed a little and nodded. “Uh huh.”

“Wait a minute…” Buck put down the sweet potato he was holding and came over to the table to sit next to Eddie. “You’re not interested in the app so you can find his phone if it’s lost, you want to use it to keep an eye on where Christopher is.”

“I’m his dad!” Eddie burst out. “He’s only a little kid! Is it so wrong to be able to check if my son is actually at school or not?”

“What, you think that giving him a phone is going to open the way for him to kick start his career as a drug lord? That that was the only obstacle to Chris starting his highly exciting life of crime?”

Eddie’s face screwed up in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Buck reached out and covered Eddie’s hand with his own. “I’m just saying, you haven’t felt the need so far to call the school ten times a day to make sure he’s in class, so why does Chris having a phone change that?”

Eddie’s face grew even redder. “I guess because with him having a phone, I _can_ check.”

“Babe,” Buck said, trying hard not to laugh in Eddie’s face, “you are such a good dad because you’re _not_ a helicopter parent. Don’t let this change of circumstances change _you._ Christopher is a great kid and having a little independence isn’t going to change that. You don’t need to go all CIA on him. The CIA will be watching for themselves.” Eddie’s eyes widened in horror at that and Buck couldn’t hold in his laugh anymore. Teasing Eddie about his fear of technology had been so easy since the Hildy incident. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”

“Buck, you know that’s not funny!” Eddie pouted at him and it was so adorable that Buck leaned in and kissed it off his lips.

“I’m sorry, I take it back.”

“You can’t tell me that kids don’t get preyed on online all the time. This _is_ something to be worried about!”

“I know, I know,” Buck soothed. “That’s why you sit down and you have a chat with Chris about being safe online. You use the parental controls to restrict what he can and can’t access. You _trust_ him to follow your rules and to know that he’ll come to you if something happens that he doesn’t feel comfortable with.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

Buck rubbed his back. “I just think that if you load a few games on there, make sure that he can call you if he needs then he’s not going to do much else with the phone. You keep saying it but he’s _ten,_ Eddie. He’s not going to use it to pimp out the kids in his class.”

Eddie chuckled. “Your mind really is a disturbing place, you know that right?”

Buck grinned but didn't point out that he'd only been coming up with the most outlandish scenarios he could so Eddie would see how silly he was being. “Okay, so what have you got on there already?”

“I’ve downloaded him a few games already,” Eddie said and his tone clearly indicated that he was offended that Buck had thought he wouldn’t have thought of that. “I stuck with educational ones but I think he’ll like them. I’ve enabled voice to text so he can text me easier if he needs to, and I’ve programmed in the phone numbers for the most important people in his life. That way if something happens, his teachers, or first responders, or the hospital will know who to call.”

Buck rolled his eyes at Eddie’s tendency to always assume that the worst would happen and he plucked the phone from his hands, and opened up the directory, curious to see who Eddie had added. At the very top he saw pinned under favourites:

Favourites

Dad

ICE

Followed by a relatively short list.

A

Tia Adriana 

B

Bisabuela

C

Carla

F

Firehouse direct

J

Tia Josephina (Pepa)

S

School

Tia Sophia

He scrolled back up, wondering if he had missed his own name but a second look proved that he hadn’t.

Buck’s stomach roiled and he felt like he might be sick. He knew that he wasn’t _really_ Christopher’s other dad, even though it felt like he was, but he had honestly believed that Eddie wouldn’t have thought twice about adding Buck to Christopher’s contacts. It hurt more than he thought possible and although he told himself that the list would grow and he’d surely be added eventually, it didn’t make him feel any better now. “Um, that uh, well, it seems like you’ve got everyone important covered,” Buck said, trying to sound jovial. 

“I debated adding my parents in,” Eddie told him, oblivious to the way that Buck’s heart was shattering, “but decided against it in the end. I don’t really want them having a direct line to Christopher that bypasses me. I know that sounds awful, that I don’t trust them, but I only want Chris to be able to contact the people that I trust the most.”

 _‘Buck, there's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you.’_ Well, that appeared to have been a lie since when push came to shove, Eddie didn’t follow through with the sentiment. 

“Yeah,” Buck said, and he stood up and went back over to where the groceries sat only half put away. 

“Crap, is that the time already?” Eddie said, jumping up from the table. “I gotta go pick Christopher up. You wanna come?”

Buck couldn’t bring himself to look at Eddie lest he burst into tears. “Uh, no, no you go. I’ll stay here and get a start on dinner.”

“It’s not even 3pm, Buck.”

“It’s a curry that Bobby gave me the recipe for,” he explained, hoping that his voice wouldn’t crack and give him away. “It needs to simmer for a long while, really imbue the flavours.”

Eddie came up behind him and slipped an arm around his waist and kissed his cheek. “Who would have thought I’d ever end up with a man who knew his way around the kitchen. You keep us well fed, Buck.” 

Then he was gone.

As soon as Buck heard Eddie’s truck pull out of the drive, he collapsed onto a chair at the table and tried, and failed, to keep the tears from falling. It appeared that he’d been misreading this situation the entire time. He’d thought that he and Eddie were in love, that apart from Christpher, that they were the most important person in each other’s lives. That may have been true for Buck, but it seemed that Eddie thought rather a lot less of Buck. He was good enough to make them dinner, and to warm Eddie’s bed; good enough to pick Chris up from Pepa’s and to help him with his homework, but not good enough to be afforded a place amongst Christopher’s contacts. Not good enough to be trusted with such an honour. Not good enough to be trusted with Eddie’s son.

Something Doctor Copeland had said to him floated into his mind. _‘The way you feel about yourself, Evan, these feelings of low self worth, they can make you jump to conclusions, to assume the worst. You need to seek clarity, to seek a confirmation before you react.’_

Okay, so was there a possibility that he’d gotten this completely wrong and was blowing it completely out of proportion? He’d seen the contact list with his own eyes so he couldn’t ignore that piece of evidence - only Eddie’s abuela, Christopher’s bisabuela was listed under B. There had been no entry under E for Evan. His name definitely wasn’t there. 

This didn’t mean though that he wasn’t important to Chris. Buck _knew_ that he was important to Christopher _and_ to Eddie. But it wouldn’t be the first time that he had been the more attached in a relationship. It didn't make the other person a liar, it simply made the balance of affections unequal. It wasn’t Eddie’s fault if Buck couldn't live without the two Diaz boys, it just made him smarter when it came to protecting his heart. If they broke up, Eddie would be upset and maybe a little heartbroken but Buck would be devastated. 

But had Eddie actually lied about how much he trusted Buck with Christopher? His words today contradicted his words from after the tsunami. Had he only been saying that back then because he’d needed a babysitter and Buck was available? Had he said it just to make Buck feel better but deep down didn't mean it? He’d said today that he only wanted people that he trusted with Chris to be in his contacts and Buck wasn’t in them, which meant he didn’t trust him. Had Buck understood that wrong?

What had Eddie said the other day? _‘You’re right more often than you think you are’._ Another piece of the puzzle that pointed to Buck having understood Eddie’s meaning perfectly. 

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the truck pulling up and he startled as he realised how long he must have been stuck in his head. He quickly jumped to his feet and by the time Christopher and Eddie came in, he was busily dicing vegetables. 

“Buck. Buck!” Chris cried, throwing himself forward and hugging him around the waist. “Did you hear the news? I get to catch the bus now! _And_ I got a phone! How cool is that?”

“That’s super cool, buddy,” Buck said, ruffling his hair. 

“That means I can talk to you whenever I want, and I can call all my friends on the weekend now!”

“Uh uh!” Eddie said, shaking his head. “You can only call the numbers I’ve added to your phone, Christopher, we spoke about this. If there’s other people you want to add then we’ll talk about them on a case by case basis, and I’ll be talking to their parents first. You’re not going to be spending all your free time on the phone, that’s not what it’s for. Besides, Buck doesn't need you chattering away at him twenty four seven - you already talk his head off the whole time he’s here.”

Buck wanted to say that he didn’t mind, that he’d spend every free minute of every day talking to Christopher if it was enough to prove to Eddie that he could be trusted with him but he held his tongue. Maybe Eddie had seen how attached Buck was getting and was pulling back now, not wanting anyone to be unduly hurt if it all ended? Was that the reason? Or was he already planning on breaking up and was starting to pull himself and his son back? 

Buck’s mind was a whir as he continued preparing dinner. Chris set up at the table with his homework and Eddie pottered about putting on a load of washing and folding the load he pulled from the dryer. It was all very domestic and that simply broke Buck’s heart even more. He was quieter than usual, only replying when needed but luckily Chris kept up a constant stream of chatter so he was only required to respond every now and then.

Dinner was ready earlier than usual thanks to the early start and Eddie and Chris wolfed their down. “This is amazing,” Eddie said, chasing around the last of the curry on his plate with a chapati. 

“It tastes so good, Buck,” Christopher agreed, spilling more rice down his front as he attempted to shovel food into his mouth. 

Buck managed a small smile but he had hardly touched his food, pushing it around his plate. 

“You okay?” Eddie asked quietly, nudging Buck’s knee with his own under the table.

“I’m fine,” Buck lied, and then he turned and asked Chris a question, not allowing Eddie to ask anything else.

As soon as dinner was over, Eddie sent Chris for a shower since he was wearing more of his dinner than he’d eaten. Buck quickly loaded the dishwasher and then pocketed his phone and wallet and grabbed his keys. He was by the door when Eddie and Chris appeared in the hallway. “Um, I’m gonna get going,” he said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder at the door.

Eddie frowned. “What? Why? I thought you were staying.”

“Nah, not tonight.”

“Aww, Buck, please stay,” Chris whined, giving Buck his best puppy dog eyes.

“Sorry, little man, but I just wanna sleep in my own bed tonight.”

Hurt flashed across Eddie's face at this and Buck felt horrible, but he needed some time apart, to get used to not spending every free moment of his life with these two. “Are you sure everything is okay?” Eddie asked again.

Buck nodded and threw Chris a small smile. “Go finish getting ready for bed, Chris, I’ll see you later, okay?” And then he turned and hurried out the door, not even allowing himself the comfort of giving them a hug before he left.

oOoOo

Buck spent the following day wallowing in self pity. He brought his bedding downstairs so he could make a nest on the couch, he opened a large tub of ice cream and forewent the bowl, opting to just eat it directly from the tub with a spoon, and he cued a heap of his feelgood-go-to nature documentaries on the TV. Then he settled in to wallow.

He’d gotten several texts from Eddie and a few missed calls as well, but he didn't open the messages or listen to his voicemail. It wasn’t that he was planning on ignoring Eddie forever, he just wanted some time to get his head around the fact that once again, no one ever stayed in Buck’s life. Eddie was pulling away, he was going to lose Christopher too, and Buck needed to get used to being alone again. 

He was just scraping the last of the ice cream from the bottom of the tub as Benedict Cumberbatch continued to have trouble pronouncing ‘penguin’ on screen when his phone lit up with an incoming call. He was about to ignore it when he saw that it was from Maddie. They’d made a pinky promise when she moved to LA that they’d always be there for one another and ignoring her call felt like breaking that so he reluctantly answered the call. “Hey, Maddie, what’s up?” he asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.

 _“I don’t know, Buck, why don’t you tell me?”_ she said, not beating around the bush at all. _“I’ve had Eddie on the phone to me, worried sick because you’ve all of a sudden become distant, left yesterday without really saying goodbye, and are ignoring his calls. What’s going on, Buck?”_

He sighed. Eddie wasn’t playing fair, involving _Maddie._ “I’m fine, I promise.”

_“Don’t try to sell me that bullshit, Evan Buckley, because I’m not buying it.”_

“Woah, breaking out the full name.”

_“Yeah, I am, because this is serious. What the hell, Buck? I’ve never seen you happier than when you’re with Eddie and Christopher. What happened?”_

He sighed. “You wouldn’t understand.”

_“Try me.”_

“Look, Eddie implied that I’m not as important to them as they are to me, okay. I just, I think he’s working up to breaking up with me and I just needed to deal with that.”

_“Have you been taking drugs?”_

“Wait, _what?_ What the hell, Mads?”

_“Because that’s the only thing I can think of that would make you that stupid to believe that Eddie is going to break up with you.”_

“Wow, thanks for your support,” Buck muttered.

_“I’m trying to be supportive, Buck, but it’s a little hard when you spout something as dumb as that.”_

“Dumb _and_ stupid in the one conversation. Way to make me feel better, sis.”

 _“You know I didn't mean it like that,”_ she assured him. _“I’m just worried about you. Eddie was really upset and he has no idea what he’s done to make you ignore him. Christopher is upset as well and just wants his Buck back.”_

“Okay, first of all - low blow, using Chris like that. Second, I have good reason to believe what I do, okay.”

 _“And there’s no way that it could all be a misunderstanding?”_ Maddie asked. _“He actually came out and said it?”_

Buck huffed. “You know he didn’t.”

_“Then I think that until you hear it from the horse’s mouth, you need to stop jumping to conclusions. You need to talk to him, tell him why you’re upset and what he’s done to make you feel like this. Communicate like the actual adult that I know you are.”_

Buck blinked back tears. “He probably doesn’t even want to see me after I walked out last night.”

_“You’d be wrong. He asked me to pass on a message.”_

“He did?”

 _“Yep, he said that movie night is still on tonight and he expects you to be there._ **_Chris_ ** _is expecting you to be there. He’s ordering pizza because he wants you to just relax and not have to cook and apparently you won’t let him near the kitchen.”_

A small laugh escaped Buck at that and he was surprised that he was able to laugh when he was feeling so heartbroken. “You’ve never tasted his cooking.”

_“He and Chris survived until you came along, it can’t be that bad.”_

“And that they did was a miracle.”

Maddie’s voice was soft as she said, _“I’m pretty sure he feels the same way, Buck. Trust in this - there’s no way that Eddie wants to lose you. I’m sure this has just been some big misunderstanding.”_

A small flare of hope ignited within Buck. “Yeah, me too.”

_“I’ll let you go then. Knowing you, you’ve been wallowing and you’ll need a shower before you head over there.”_

“Yeah, you’d be right.” He sniffled a little and wiped away the last of the moisture on his face. “Thanks, Maddie.”

_“Go and get your man, Buck. Talk later.”_

Buck ended the call and took a deep breath. He could do this, he could go and be an adult and talk about his feelings. It would be hard but in the end, Eddie and Chris were worth it.

oOoOo

Eddie was waiting in the doorway when Buck got to his house. His steps faltered a little when he saw him but then Eddie was pulling him into a hug and holding him tight. “Eddie, I’m so sorry,” he whispered against his throat.

He felt Eddie shake his head. “Let’s talk about that later, Buck, okay. Just come in and enjoy a movie with me and Chris.”

He pulled back and nodded, trying not to feel too guilty about the dark bags under Eddie’s eyes. It seemed that he had gotten as little sleep as Buck had the night before. 

“Buck!” he heard as he stepped inside and then Christopher was hurrying towards him, his crutches clicking on the floorboards. 

Buck knelt down and pulled him into a hug, and he kissed his curls. “Hey, little man.”

“Daddy said you weren’t feeling very good. Are you better now?” he asked.

Always amazed at how big Christopher’s heart was, Buck nodded. “Yeah, I’m feeling much better now that I’m back with you.”

“Then why did you leave last night? If you’d stayed, I could have made you feel better right away.”

Buck hugged him again. “Sometimes grownups are a bit silly. I’m here now though.”

Chris grinned at him and then turned and led him into the living room. “Daddy ordered pizza and it came just before you did. We waited for you so there would be some left!”

Buck laughed a little and nodded. “Thanks, Chris - I know how much you and your dad can eat.”

“Daddy can eat a _whole_ pizza!”

“You know, I’m pretty sure that Buck eats more than me,” Eddie said, coming into the room behind them with plates in his hand. “Now go on, Chris, go get washed up so we can eat.”

Buck pushed aside his tumultuous feelings, making sure to keep it all hidden from Christopher. They had dinner, watched _Monsters Inc._ and then they played with Christopher’s Legos for a little while. He asked Buck to read him a story before bed and soon he was soundly asleep and Buck knew that it was time to man up and explain what had been going through his head to Eddie.

Eddie was waiting in the kitchen, two mugs of tea on the table and a neutral expression on his face. “He down?” he asked.

“Yeah," Buck confirmed, “out like a light.” He sat down and took a sip of his tea, humming happily as he tasted the special caramel blend that he enjoyed. 

“So,” Eddie began, “you gonna tell me what I did?” He looked broken and Buck felt guilt well up inside of him. “I was so worried about you, Buck. You just left last night with no proper explanation, but you’d been quiet all afternoon. Then you never replied to any of my messages or answered my calls. What did I do to make you so angry at me?”

Buck shook his head. “No, Eddie, I wasn’t angry, I swear.”

“Then what?” he asked, his voice cracking. “What did I do, Buck?”

It felt so silly now, such an inconsequential thing but Buck owed it to Eddie to tell him what had upset him so much. “You don’t trust me with Christopher,” he whispered.

Eddie looked shocked. _“Excuse me?_ What the hell did I just hear you say? I’ve told you before that I trust you more than anyone with him.”

Buck squirmed under his gaze and looked down at his mug, fiddling with the handle. “You said that you only added people to Christopher’s phone that you trusted with him completely but my name wasn’t there.”

Eddie’s brow furrowed. “Of course you’re in his phone, Buck.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m not. I looked when you showed me. I’m not there.”

“Buck,” Eddie said slowly, “you were the second contact I added, after my own.”

“Eddie, I’m telling you, I’m _not_ in there!” 

Eddie pushed back his chair and stood up, crossing to the buffet where Chris’s phone sat on charge. He unplugged it and came back, swiping the screen open as he did. Then he slid the phone across the table to Buck and gestured at it. “There, proof. It’s your number, Buck.”

Buck looked down, seeing the open contact with a photo of he and Chris that was taken at May’s graduation party saved as the profile picture. His eyes dropped down, recognising his number and he wondered how he’d missed it, but then he saw what he’d been saved under. 

ICE.

In Case of Emergency. 

“I’m Chris’s emergency contact?” he choked out.

“Buck, you’ve _been_ Christopher‘s emergency contact since he started at his new school! Even when Shannon was still alive, you were above her on the list of people to call. You’ve _always_ been the one I want them to contact if they can’t get hold of me and my little boy needs someone.”

“But why aren’t I listed under Buck?”

Eddie rolled his eyes but Buck could tell that it was done with fondness. “Because if something happens and someone else needs to make the call, or find the numbers, well, Dad is obvious but how would they know how important Buck is? This way if they can’t reach me, they’ll definitely know to call you. Hell, they might call you first anyway and that’s okay with me.”

A tear slipped down Buck’s cheek. “So, you’re not getting ready to break up with me?” he asked quietly.

“The fuck, Buck? How the hell had you formed that conclusion just because you thought you weren’t in Christopher’s phone?” 

He shrugged, feeling silly. “It just made sense, you know? If you didn't trust me with Chris anymore then maybe you were getting sick of me, or were thinking of ending things so it was just easier to start pulling away. Start getting used to being alone again.”

“One of these days,” Eddie growled, “I am going to hunt down each and every person who has ever left you, who has ever made you feel like you’re not good enough to love.”

“Yeah?” Buck asked, risking a glance up. “Then what?”

“Then,” Eddie said, grasping Buck’s hand and pulling it up to his lips, “I’m going to tell them about how amazing you are and how much richer you’ve made my life and I’m going to make them regret ever walking away from you.”

Buck gave him a shy smile. “Not gonna beat them up?”

Eddie looked dead serious as he said, “No, Buck, because a beating isn’t going to hurt as much as them realising what they’re missing out on by not having you in their lives.”

“Okay, that’s gotta be the sweetest, most romantic, but aggressive thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Eddie laughed and he pulled Buck to him, peppering his face with kisses before crushing him to his chest. “I love you so much, Buck. I’m sorry that I made you think otherwise.”

“I kinda think this was all on me,” Buck said, his voice muffled by his face being squished against Eddie’s chest.

“Maybe a little, but I think that if I’d been brave enough to do what I’ve been meaning to do for a while now, you would have been less likely to jump to the wrong conclusion.”

Buck frowned and pulled away. “Huh?”

Eddie laughed and then stood up and crossed once again to the buffet. He opened one of the drawers and picked something up, then came back and dropped the item in Buck’s hand, curling his fingers around it securely. “That’s a house key, Buck. I don’t just want you to be Christopher’s emergency contact. I don’t want you to ever say that you want to sleep in your own bed and not mean _our_ bed. I don’t want to have you say that you’re going home and not mean here. I want you with us always, Buck, and Christopher does too. We’re not leaving you, Buck, and we never will. So what do you say, will you move in?”

It was all that Buck had ever wanted and he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip from his grasp. “Yes, Eddie, of course I’ll move in.”

They shared a kiss and then Eddie was standing for a third time, this time pulling Buck up with him. “Come on then, let’s go to bed, and tomorrow you can wake up for the first time in your new home.”

Buck didn’t correct Eddie, simply followed him to the bedroom, but Eddie was wrong. Tomorrow wouldn’t be the first time that Buck woke up in his new home because this place had been his home since the first time he’d come over. Now though, it would be his home forever.


End file.
